Home Life
by ReavansMask
Summary: A series of vignettes from the post-war life of Melanie Shepard and Liara. Serves as a sequel of sorts to Long Way Home, although you don't have to have read it to understand what's going on. Generally light-hearted, although with some variation in tone.
1. Moving Day

It had taken some time before Melanie Shepard and Liara T'Soni were ready to settle down. The first couple of years after the Reaper War had been spent dealing with its aftermath but with stability returning, the couple had decided that they were ready to find a more permanent place to live and it was Eve and Shepard who had come up with the idea that led to the where.

The female krogan leader had suggested that some of the new colonies on the worlds the Reapers had destroyed be settled by members of more than one species. These planets could serve as both examples of and advocates for cooperation, blunting the divisions that had helped to make the old Council so ineffective. It was Melanie's idea that the core of these settlements be veterans of the Reaper War, who could be offered free land as partial compensation for their service. Many of them had lost their old homes, they were accustomed to working with members of other species, and their presence would help to ensure the safety of the colonies in a galaxy that still had its dangers.

With Shepard's prestige behind it, the idea had taken off, especially when she and Liara had announced that they would settle on Sanves, a former asari colony that their government had contributed to the project and that had attracted a number of retired members of the multi-species N7 special ops teams.

Over the previous six months, while the _Normandy_ continued with its reconstruction work, Liara had arranged for the construction of a home on the colony. After an impoverished childhood and an adult life lived on a modest Alliance salary, it was quite a change for Melanie to realize they were rich. Liara had inherited a sizeable sum from her mother, and despite the disruptions of the war, the resources she'd taken from the Shadow Broker were still considerable. As for Melanie, she had been awarded pretty much every medal the governments of the galaxy could hand out, many of which came with lifetime pensions, to say nothing of the "royalties from the vids," as Garrus had described them.

The crew had been happy to help out with the move, though Kaidan quipped that they might have been less enthusiastic if the job had been more difficult. Though the house was fairly large, Shepard had spent most of her career on ships and had never had the time or space to acquire many possessions while Liara's apartment on Illium had been destroyed in the war. New furniture had already been delivered, which just left the contents of their cabins; Liara had been living in Melanie's more spacious one since shortly after the Battle of Earth, but still used hers as an office.

Once the boxes had been unloaded and the ship left in Kaidan's capable hands, the couple was left together in their new home. Liara found her bondmate standing in their living room, staring out the window, a distant look on her face.

"Is everything all right, love?"

"It's fine. It's just, I've never really lived in a house before. Definitely never owned one. It's strange thinking that all of this is ours."

The information broker stepped behind her lover, placing her arms around her waist. "A nice home doesn't seem an unreasonable reward for saving the galaxy."

"I know, it just takes some getting used to is all. Besides," she added playfully, "That's not the only reward I got." She turned around in her girlfriend's arms, kissing her passionately while running her hand suggestively down her sensitive crest.

As her other hand caressed Liara's backside, the asari objected, "Ah… Melanie. Not that that does not feel good, but I do think we should unpack somewhat before we, what is the expression, 'write the rest of the day off.'"

Shepard gave the asari another quick peck on the lips before breaking the embrace. "I know. I just wanted to get you thinking about tonight. We've got a new bed to break in after all."

They made some reasonable headway on their boxes before calling it a night and ordering some take-in from an asari restaurant, one of the few that had opened thus far on the new colony. Though their plans to settle there had been well-publicized, the maiden who delivered their food still had an amusingly stunned look on her face when Commander Shepard opened the door.

As Melanie loaded the dishwasher after they'd eaten, she was distracted by the feeling of a warm tongue running along her ear and an arm wrapping around her stomach. "Mm, Liara, I should finish…"

"Tomorrow, Shepard. You've had me thinking about this long enough."

"Well, if you insist."

Starlight from the large windows in their bedroom illuminated them as they entered. Shepard smiled, enjoying the sight of her lover in the dim glow, her blue eyes looking at her with such affection.

"You are beautiful, love". Melanie knew she didn't exactly look her best at that moment, wearing her old N7 hoodie and a bit disheveled from a long day, which only made the lovely asari's complement all the sweeter.

"Come here," the human purred as she pulled her bondmate in for a kiss.

Liara's hands starting to roam over her partner's body, sliding under fabric to caress the tan skin beneath. Melanie felt eagerness in the scientist's touches, and she grinned, unzipping her sweatshirt and letting it fall to the floor even as Liara pulled her own green sweater over her head, revealing a thin white t-shit beneath it.

Shepard traced a finger over her lover's chest, eliciting a slight gasp as Liara's nipples stiffened through the fabric. The asari's digits played over the commander's teasing hand, running up her arm, and slipping off the strap of her black tank-top off. Their lips met again, Melanie's tongue darting into her partner's mouth even as Liara slid down the second strap, the top falling away to reveal shapely breasts. Her warm hands covered them, thumbs coaxing the nipples into hardness as Melanie sighed with pleasure.

They crossed the room entangled, kissing as they went. Melanie gently lowered Liara onto the bed before starting her way down her body with her mouth, tasting her skin and sweat, sweeter and less salty than that of a human. While her tongue ran over Liara's stomach and dipped into her belly button, her skilled hands unbuttoned the scientist's pants, pulling them and her underwear off together.

As she slowly trailed a finger up between her girlfriend's legs, she could tell that Liara was already turned on, but Melanie didn't want to go too quickly. It was a special night, and she wanted it to last. With two of her nimble brown digits, she brushed lightly over the sensitive scales between her lover's thighs before pressing for an instant against her clitoris. Liara cried out, flickers of blue light sparkling off of her in the darkness, but then Shepard moved her touch, gliding back down the asari's other leg.

The commander retraced this path again and again, teasing with her fingers, feeling Liara buck her hips against her each time she rubbed her partner's core. "Please, Melanie," her bondmate whispered huskily, and Shepard couldn't resist her. She leaned down, running her tongue over the scientist's clit as she slid two fingers inside her. The response was immediate, Liara's body shuddering with fulfilled longing as Shepard began thrusting in and out of her.

Melanie could feel Liara getting closer as the asari looked down, her bright eyes filled with desire. "Wait, Shepard. I want you too." The soldier just nodded and moved up beside her partner, who's practiced hands undid her dark blue slacks and quickly removed them along with her panties even as her thoughts reached out to Melanie's.

She acceded without words, and as the scientists' eyes flashed dark, the familiar and yet thrilling sensation of the bond enfolded them, desire and affection flowing through their minds. The arousal that the commander had so loving cultivated in her partner returned to her, flushing her body with sudden, needful heat.

Responding to her craving, Liara's fingers went to her lover's engorged clitoris even as Melanie slid her hand back between her partner's legs, fingers dipping inside her while her thumb rubbed her bud. Bodies pressed together, tongues entwined, fingers thrusting and rubbing, Shepard couldn't feel anything but her lover, couldn't imagine wanting anything but her. Liara slid inside her wet center with her fingers, her palm maintaining the pressure against her throbbing clit as Melanie's free hand caressed her partner's crest, their building pleasure echoing between them, driving them toward their peak.

Liara's body arched against Melanie, her nipples brushing against Shepard's chest as her other hand tangled in her dark hair. Melanie curled her fingers deep inside her lover and felt it take Liara over the edge just as her own orgasm surged through her as well. Their thighs clenched around each other's hands, their pleasure amplified by the bliss their partner felt.

As their minds separated, the lovers crawled into each other's arms. "Goddess, you make me crazy," Liara purred, running her hand lovingly through Shepard's short black hair.

Melanie kissed along her partner's throat, "Glad to hear it. I was hoping you wanted more tonight."

"I think…ah, that sounds wonderful. What did you have in mind?"

"Something that I made sure to pack where I could get at it easily."

Liara just smiled, guessing her girlfriend's meaning, and Shepard rose from the bed, crossing the room to a box she'd left nearby. Even in the low light, she could see Liara hungrily watching her naked body move as she opened it up and removed a black harness and strap-on. She went to put it on, but her lover motioned for her to bring it back to her instead.

As she stood by the side of the bed, Liara crawled over to sit beside her, planting kisses on the tan skin of Shepard's stomach while her hands caressed her firm butt. Melanie sighed happily, running her fingers over her lover's crest as Liara dipped her head, nuzzling the small patch of hair above the human's sex before planting a kiss on her clitoris. While Shepard gasped with pleasure, the scientist took the harness from her and, withdrawing her mouth, began to fasten it into place.

Shepard had tried toys like this with human lovers before she met Liara, but she'd never been overly enamored of them, preferring the more personal touch of hands and mouths. With Liara though, it was different, the joining transforming the sex, creating a shared pleasure and intimacy that was different from any of Melanie's past experiences with making love this way. It was still not standard fare for them, but it made an interesting change of pace on the right night, and Melanie had thought that moving into their new home might be such an occasion.

Liara finished her task and lay back on the bed, leading Shepard down beside her. The commander kissed her lover gently, running her hands over her pale blue skin. She was in no rush, wanting to make sure that Liara was properly aroused before she entered her. Her fingers gradually made their way lower and lower, tracing her lover's collarbone and breasts, stomach and hips before sliding once more between the asari's legs. She ran her digits back and forth over Liara's opening, feeling the moisture there, brushing against her clitoris while covering the scientist's face with kisses. Feeling her bondmate's arousal rising again, Melanie probed her sex with two fingers, and when they found her wet and ready, she began thrusting, slowly at first but with increasing vigor as Liara responded, her arms wrapping around Shepard's back, pulling her closer.

"Yes! Now!"

Melanie shifted her hips, lining up the strap-on so that she could enter her girlfriend. She slid in without difficulty, her fingers having performed their task admirably and though there's an attachment at the base of the toy that rubs pleasurably against Shepard's clit when she thrusts, it's when their minds joined that she was reminded why this could be so good.

"Ah, Melanie, wonderful, fits just right, yes, Liara, feel myself so deep in you, goddess, more, yes…"

Liara's mouth ran along Shepard's neck, her tongue eliciting sighs and gasps as her lover started moving her hips. The asari's hands stayed firmly on Melanie's back, guiding her deeper, wanting to feel more of their skin touching even as their thoughts meshed. Their bodies flowed together as if they were made for only this, hips pushing in rhythm, mouths pressed against skin, hands roaming everywhere.

"God, my love, so good, just you, only you, let me, want to look at you, of course…"

As she rolled over and Liara straightened above her, Shepard lay back, enraptured by how beautiful her partner looked in that moment: her body glistening with sweat, face flushed, eyes full of desire as she rode her. She slid one hand up a blue thigh, her thumb pressing against Liara's clit even as she pushed deeper into her. The asari moaned with pleasure and as her fingers reached down to stimulate the human's dark nipples, Shepard quickened her pace.

Shared desire filled them now, the sensations running together in a glorious stream. Melanie sat up slightly so that she could take a blue nipple in her mouth while her hand cupped Liara's other breast. The asari gasped, her hips bucking against Shepard and as the human thrust hard into her, she came, the sensation of sharing the scientist's climax taking Melanie over the edge with her. Their cries of ecstasy merged as Liara's biotics flared, bathing the dimly-lit room in a blue glow.

Afterwards, Liara slipped off of her lover and removed the harness before nuzzling in Shepard's waiting arms. They kissed affectionately, just enjoying the afterglow for a time before Melanie broke the silence.

"I think I'm going to like owning a house."

"It does eliminate the need to worry about the noise."

"Good thing too. I think we would have woken the lower decks back on the _Normandy_."

"I love you, Melanie," Liara replied with a gentle kiss. "I love the sounds you make. I love the way you look at me, the way you touch me, and I love that the last thing I get to see at night and the first thing I get to see in the morning is you."

Shepard purred. "God, the things you say. I love you too Liara. I love every inch, every part of you, and there's no one else I want to spend my life with." Melanie slid her arms snuggly around her lover and the couple drifted off, tired but utterly contended.


	2. Wedding Preparations

"We do need to talk about security at some point."

Melanie Shepard sighed. "I guess it's too much to ask that saving the galaxy a few times would stop people from wanting to kill me."

"I am sorry, love, but you know that is not the case."

"I do, but still, look at who we're inviting to this wedding. Specters, Admirals, powerful biotics, large krogan… who'd be crazy enough to take them all on?"

"Melanie," the information broker asked, a bemused expression on her lovely face, "How much of your extranet mail do you read?"

"I try to get through most of it, but that VI you set up for me does delete a lot of the junk."

"I suspected as much. Glyph, would you please give Shepard an overview of her blocked messages?"

The info drone floated over. "Of course, Doctor T'Soni.

"31.7% are commercial solicitations. 26.1% are from persons desiring to have sexual relations with the commander. 21.4% of these individuals express a wish to harm Doctor T'Soni. 33.4% request her participation."

"14.2% of the messages contain threats of bodily injury or death. 36.2% of these are from batarians, and 17.8% are from members of known mercenary organizations."

"13% view her as a religious figure of some type. 7.6% wish her to kill a person or persons for them…"

"All right, Glyph, I get the picture. I've attracted the attention of a lot of lunatics." She laughed. "You know, it's almost enough to make me nostalgic for Conrad Verner."

Liara ran a hand affectionately through her lover's dark hair. "You are the most beloved hero in the galaxy, Melanie. But you are also the most famous and that does lead to some complications. Normally, our relative isolation on this colony shields us from the bulk of them, but there will be an influx of people for the wedding, and we will need to be prepared."

She was right. Dealing with the kind of fame Shepard had was something so alien to most of her life experience that she still had trouble wrapping her head around it sometimes. Liara by contrast had grown up as the daughter of a powerful and influential Matriarch. Even though she had chosen to shun the spotlight in favor of her archeological career, she had still acquired an instinct for this sort of thing that her fiancé lacked.

"Garrus will want snipers." The turian had taken over security on Sanves shortly after he and Tali had moved there and his approach to dealing with potential threats to his old commanding officer's safety was... well, "zealous "was a nice way of putting it. "Slightly paranoid" had been his quarian wife's description on more than one occasion.

"I do not doubt it. Perhaps can we get Tali to talk him into non-lethal drones."

Melanie slid her arms around the asari. "You know, we could just elope. I can't think of anything I want more than to spend the rest of my life with you, but I really wish this was simpler."

"I am aware of that, but you mean so much to so many people and they would like to share this day with us."

"Okay," she agreed reluctantly, "I'll try to stop complaining. Speaking of our guests, we better figure out who can't we seat where."

"Well, we cannot put my father near anyone easily offended."

"Yeah, that's probably not a smart idea. I'm still not sure Aethya thinks I'm good enough for you."

"No, the last time that we spoke, she conceded otherwise, albeit grudgingly."

"Good to know. I'd hate to have to find more Reapers to destroy in order to impress her."

"What of Jack? I am not certain she can be trusted to avoid creating a disturbance."

"You don't think Sam can keep her well-behaved?"

"She does seem to have a calming effect."

Shepard smiled. When she'd seen the two of them flirting at a reunion for the crew of the _Normandy_, her initial impulse had been to warn one of them. She wasn't sure whether it was the ex-convict or the comm officer who should watch out though, so she'd kept quiet. Two years later, she was pretty sure she'd made the right call.

"I'm not sure calming is quite the word I'd use. I think they make each other feel awkward, but in a good way. Both of them need to be dragged out of their comfort zones sometimes, which in Jack's case can mean being convinced not to make a scene."

"Well, I am simply glad that Commander Traynor has found an alternative object for her romantic interests." Though Samantha had made her pass at Melanie while the former Specter and Liara were still dancing around each other, she had still left a bad impression on the asari.

"You know it was always you that I wanted," Shepard assured her lover, emphasizing the point with a passionate kiss. "Even when I had trouble admitting it."

"I do. And," the scientist added with a smile, "Now you are going to admit it in front of everyone."

"I am." Once, the thought of publically displaying her feelings for Liara would have made Melanie uncomfortable, but that was long in the past. "Of course, I suspect they already know."

"So do I. Now, let us discuss seating the krogan."

In spite of herself, Melanie groaned. It was going to be a long day.


	3. Only Yours

"I do not accept that it was an honest misunderstanding."

As Liara followed her new wife towards their cabin, she heard Shepard chuckle. "What? You don't believe your father really thought the vows went 'love, honor, and ravish?'"

A small smile appeared at the corners of Liara's lips. "The rest of her toast certainly made it seem more likely that her goal was simply to make me uncomfortable."

"Hey, it wasn't just you. I'm pretty sure I could see Tali blushing right through her faceplate after that bird flu crack."

"Goddess! She was not the only troublemaker either, Melanie. Those stories Wrex was telling were almost as bad. And James…"

"I'd say that marine can't hold his liquor, but he certainly held plenty of it today. When he was hitting on Falere and Samara had to explain her condition to him… I thought Steve and Grunt were going to die laughing."

Liara sighed, but it came more from happiness than annoyance. "It was still nice to see so many of our old friends though, wasn't it?"

"It was. A shame Kasumi didn't turn up, but I can see how that many Specters in one place might have made her nervous. Nice statue she sent by the way. Where do you think she got it?"

"It may be best if we do not enquire too deeply."

Shepard's bemused agreement was cut short by an appreciative look at their destination. "Good of the asari government to not go cheap when they chartered this ship for us." Liara could see what she meant; fresh fruit and flowers, a hot tub, and a very large, very comfortable looking bed all promised a pleasant two days en route to the Prothean ruins they had chosen to honeymoon at. Melanie laughed. "I only wish they could have been this generous when I needed their help to stop the Reapers."

As the door closed behind them, Liara pulled her lover close for a deep kiss, the warmth of the human's body against her banishing the day's small irritations from her thoughts. "I think that, for tonight, you can forget about their past failings and instead simply enjoy this manifestation of their richly-deserved guilt."

"Right now, I'd rather enjoy my incredible good fortune in convincing the most beautiful asari in the galaxy to marry me."

"You," Liara replied playfully, "Are Commander Melanie Shepard, Savior of the Citadel and the greatest hero in the galaxy. You could have had gotten almost anyone to agree to marry you."

"Now, however," she continued, her voice lowering to a whisper as she brushed a hand over Melanie's cheek, "You are mine."

"I have been yours, my love," Melanie breathed, "For a very long time."

"Mine," Liara repeated, a reverent look in her bright blue eyes. The pain of Shepard's initial rejection that night after Feros had faded long ago, but the memory of it still added a special touch of poignancy to moments such as this, to the fact that they were together now and always.

Her slim blue fingers went to the brass buttons of the retired commander's dress uniform, undoing them slowly as she planted kisses along her throat. "Every inch of you, love?" Her words were a question that she already knew the answer to, but it still thrilled her to hear Shepard reply.

"Of course." Melanie's jacket fell to the floor, and Liara's hands began to run over the black tank-top she wore underneath it, feeling strong muscles arch beneath the thin fabric.

"I will always be yours, Liara." The asari pulled the top up and over her wife's breasts, caressing the soft flesh there, hearing Shepard's breathing becoming sharper as her nipples stiffened against Liara's palms.

"Only I get to do this?" Her lips went to one of the dark tips, Liara first flicking her tongue over it before taking it into her mouth, while her hands finished removing the top.

"Ah… why would I want anyone else to, when you're so good at it?" Liara's lips switched breasts while her hand cupped the one her mouth had just left, rolling the now-slick nipple between her fingers. Shepard sighed happily, gripping the asari through the delicate fabric of her blue and white dress, her strong hands massaging her shoulders.

As Liara knelt to kiss her way down Shepard's firm stomach, she felt warm fingers stroking her crest. Purring softly as Melanie nimbly played over the ridges, she unfastened her lover's dark blue pants, sliding them down to reveal a pair of uncharacteristically sexy black silk underwear.

"You only wear these for me?" Liara traced over the outline of her wife's outer lips, the lightness of her touch through the barrier causing Melanie to angle her hips against the asari's fingers in her craving for more contact.

"Only for you." Liara pressed a kiss against Shepard's clothed bud, and as her wife let out a short, sharp cry, the asari hooked her fingers through the waistband of her panties, sliding them down. Shepard's scent, rich and musky, filled her senses, and she felt a throbbing between her own legs as she began licking her way up the tan skin of Melanie's inner thigh.

"Only I get to taste you?" Liara's tongue ran over Melanie's opening, and as the Specter gasped, Liara felt her wife's legs, which had held up through countless battles, suddenly becoming wobbly.

"Oh god! No one but you, Liara." Shepard stepped out of her underwear and staggered backwards so that she could lie down on the indeed-comfortable bed. Looking down at her wife, naked, incredibly wet, and completely hers, Liara felt a rush of heat shooting through her like she rarely had before. Her suddenly fumbling fingers found the clasp of her gown, and even as it pooled at her feet leaving her clad only in a lacy white bra and panties, she was moving to the bed, burying her head between Melanie's legs.

The human moaned as Liara's tongue quickly found it's way back to her opening, dipping inside to taste her fully. As Melanie writhed around her, Liara thought that she could enjoy doing this forever, but her lover was so slick, so immensely turned on that she didn't want to go too slow. As Shepard's hands tangled in the sheets, Liara moved her mouth to the human's swollen clit, her fingers gripping Melanie's bucking hips, and as she started tracing patterns across the bud with her tongue, Liara could feel thighs starting to tighten around her head.

"Meld. Please," Melanie breathed, her voice ragged. Liara's eyes darkened in reply and all the proof she could have conceivably needed that Melanie meant every word of the vows they had spoken earlier that day washed over her, love, devotion, and desire filling her mind.

"Take those clothes off and come here, Liara." Shepard's voice in her head was thick with arousal. "You're mine too."

"Goddess, yes." Liara sat up, unhooking her bra to reveal her pert blue breasts, the nipples already erect. When her hands moved down to remove her underwear, she caught a glimpse through the joining of the way Melanie felt looking at her, of her admiration of the soft curves of Liara's body, and as mental pictures of some of the things Shepard wanted do to with that body reached her, the asari trembled in anticipation.

"Every last part of me is yours, Shepard. We belong to each other." Liara turned, feeling Melanie's breath hot on her skin as she lay down parallel to the human.

"So wet for me." Liara moaned as she heard Melanie's thoughts while a warm tongue crawled up her leg and a hand slid back and forth across her opening.

"Yes, for you. Only for you, love." The asari moved her mouth back to Shepard, feeling the sharp echo of her wife's pleasure across the meld as she pulled her clit between her lips. Two fingers pushed against Liara's opening, probing just past her tight entrance while the commander's tongue flicked lightly over her most sensitive areas.

"More, Melanie. Please. I need you." The fingers pressed deeper into Liara, the wonderful sensation of being filled merging in her mind with the pulses of pleasure flowing from her wife as the asari sucked on her bud.

"Yes… so good… so close…" It felt so right like this, the sharing of pleasure and thought, and Liara knew that neither of them could take much more, so as she felt Shepard's tongue caress her throbbing clit while her fingers thrust inside her, the asari tried to convey all that her lover meant to her.

"I'm yours… I love you… I'll always love you." The last words came from both of them at once, a promise and also a statement of fact, and as they echoed through theirs minds, the climax that had been building within them flooded through the lovers like white light. Liara's awareness collapsed to nothing but Shepard, her bondmate and the pleasure she was giving and receiving filling every corner of her thoughts.

Minutes later, she crawled into Shepard's arms, the feel of the human's hands on her back and her gentle kisses along the top of her crest easing the come-down from one of the most intense orgasms Liara could remember. "I really am the fortunate one, love," she whispered.

The retired commander's smile was blissfully contended. "I think we can call it a tie."

"Mm, fair enough. You do seem extraordinary happy."

"Because of you, my wife."

As the kiss that followed grew more passionate, Liara felt a desire she had thought sated begin to stir again, and when their tongues untangled and her field of vision gradually re-expanded to include the rest of the room, she found a delicious thought entering her head. "You know, Melanie, we do seem to have worked up something of a sweat."

Shepard took her meaning instantly. "Hot tub?"

As Liara watched her wife's beautiful body rising from the bed, she felt a further pulse of arousal deep within her core, and she thought with a laugh that maybe Aethyta had had a point about those vows after all.


	4. Vid Night

"Come, Shepard. It's going to start in a few minutes."

"Are we really going to watch this?"

"You did consult on it. Aren't you even a little curious?"

"If they were going to make this thing anyway, I wanted to make sure they didn't screw it up too much. But fine, if you insist."

"Excellent. I have made popcorn."

Melanie Shepard curls up on the couch next to her wife, wrapping one arm around Liara T'Soni's shoulder while the other takes a handful of popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table. "I am looking forward to seeing one thing," Shepard admits between bites.

"And what is that, love?"

"What the actress playing you looks like."

Liara laughs and teases her, "Are you hoping that she is better looking than me?"

Shepard leans over for a passionate kiss. "Not possible. But I've had to deal with my doppelganger on those extranet ads for months and now it's your turn."

Liara smiles. "You could have just watched the trailer."

"I barely agreed to watch the series. Besides, given your background, I'd think that you'd be particularly bothered by the inevitable historical inaccuracies, Doctor T'Soni"

"It is not exactly intended to be a serious scholarly work. Also, it is starting."

"Every war has its legends. Champions rise from the fire of battle and our greatest war produced our greatest heroes. Steven Hackett. Urdnot Wrex. Adrien Victus. But there is one name in particular that will live forever, one name that all the galaxy knows. This is her story, the story of Shepard."

As Melanie groans, the music swells and the opening credits of the first installment of the mini-series begins to play, a montage of action shots featuring the main cast, beginning of course with the actress portraying Shepard. "She does look a lot like me," Melanie concedes.

"I am told that she spent a month training with the Alliance military to prepare for this role."

"I'm sure that qualifies her to be a Specter."

"Now you are simply being difficult."

"Maybe a little."

When the asari playing Liara appears on the screen, the scientist turns to Melanie and says with a playful earnestness, "She is quite pretty."

"Not nearly as pretty as you," Shepard smiles, pulling her wife on top of her and covering her neck with kisses.

"We're going to miss the show," Liara protests, but the feel of Shepard's mouth against her skin removes any real force from her objections.

"It's okay Liara, I think we know how it ends."

"The dashing hero saves the galaxy and wins the heart of the beautiful maiden?"

"That sounds about right," Melanie laughs happily as she feels Liara's arms wrap around her, "Just about right."


	5. Vid Night: Other Viewers

So, I'd planned on the earlier story being a one-shot, but I kept having ideas for other people's reactions, so I wrote an additional chapter.

The Normandy: Starboard Observation Lounge

"Another beer, James?"

"Thanks, Captain. I'm gonna need plenty of booze if it turns out these putas really demoted me to an extra."

A flicker of biotic energy from Kaiden's finger opened two bottles. Passing one of them to James, he sighed with exaggerated sympathy. "It's nothing personal, Lt. Commander. Jacob got cut almost entirely. I think he was in the credits as 'Cerberus Soldier #2.'"

"What the hell? I mean, without my 15 minutes, all I have is my killer bod to impress the ladies."

"Listen, it's all about money. According to Tali, the focus groups said there were too many humans in the series."

"Too many humans?! The _Normandy_ is an Alliance ship."

"Sure, but they need to sell this thing to the whole galaxy. I mean, I don't remember Captain Kirrahe being around nearly that much while we were hunting Saren, but the salarians are a big market and they're pretty ambivalent about Shepard to begin with."

"Cross-species appeal, huh. I guess that explains the shower scene with the mujer atractiva playing Samara."

"Yeah," said Kaiden taking a drink, "Everybody loves an asari."

Vega laughed. "Including the commander, especially if you believe this pedazo de mierda. Did she really hook up with the Consort?"

"All I'm gonna say, James, is that that incident was before she met Liara and leave the rest to your overactive imagination."

"Way ahead of you, Captain."

Grissom Academy: Instructor's Quarters

"Jack dear, did you actually used to wear that as a top? It's barely a bra."

"Nah, they changed it for the show."

"That's good, I mean, they shouldn't have altered it, but…"

"The real one was smaller."

"Smaller?! God, how did it even, I mean, what kept it on?"

As Samantha Traynor sputtered, her girlfriend laughed uproariously. "Fuck me, I dunno. Biotics helped. Just as well they covered me up a bit more; the ink on that chick is all wrong."

After a brief pause, Samantha got a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "Do you… do you still have it? The top, I mean."

"Probably. Why?"

"Well, we do have that vacation on Eden Prime coming up."

Jack grinned wickedly. "No problem; I'll find it. At least as long as you stop hiding those videos you dug up of Aria from back when she was a dancer." As Sam blushed an adorable shade of red, the ex-convicted slid a hand up her thigh while adding, "What, you think you're the only one that appreciates a tough bitch?"

Omega: Aria T'Loak's Private Chambers

Normally, Aria wouldn't have bothered watching such nonsense. Still, she did have a healthy appreciation for what the humans called bread and circuses, and it had been a long time since she remembered a spectacle being as heavily promoted as this Shepard series: the sheer number of credits they'd dropped on making it impressed even a woman of her means. Hell, she'd even gotten a piece of the action for herself; the film crews shooting exteriors on Omega had brought in a nice chunk of change and only a few of them had gotten robbed while they were there.

She had to admit, it was a decent effort. Rumor had it the producers had even gotten Shepard herself to give them a couple of interviews and despite some creative liberties, they'd even taken a stab at something resembling accuracy. Still, these things were never quite right. Retaking Omega together, the commander's skill in battle had impressed Aria more than anyone she'd ever met and that fire could never be properly replicated by an actress, at least not if you knew what the real thing looked like.

Despite it's shortcomings however, Aria had been enjoying the vid well enough until Shepard made her first visit to Afterlife. The actress playing "The Queen of Omega" actually had pretty good delivery, but then they got to her monologue. As the remote shattered against the wall, the asari remembered why she didn't watch this sanitized crap. "Don't mess with Aria," indeed.


	6. Vid Night: Mischief

Tuchanka: Urdnot Clan Leader's Residence

"Dad, did that turian really save you from the Geth?"

"Ha! It was me who…"

"Morka ate all the varren jerky."

"Now, Morka, your mother told you…."

"Dad! Grith head-butted me."

"Grith, stop…."

"But Karok head-butted me first."

Back before the Genophage had been cured, Urdnot Wrex, like most krogan, had dreamed of having a big family, but he had since discovered that the reality of it was often somewhat less than idyllic. After a long day of arguing with sniveling politicians and corporate idiots about a joint colonization project with the asari and elcor, all the krogan leader wanted was to eat some dinner, have a glass of ryncol, and relive a time when he could solve all of his problems with a shotgun blast to the head. Instead, he could barely hear the vid over the din, and every attempt he made to solve one problem was drowned out by two more.

Making peace was more Bakara's area of expertise than his, but since she was away applying her skills to a dispute between two of the other clans, Wrex knew he'd have to try something else. Rewinding to the appropriate point, he loudly thumped the arm of his chair to get his brood's attention. On the screen, the actor playing him –not nearly so devilishly handsome he thought, but at least big enough –was beating a mercenary to death with the butt of his shotgun. Turning to his progeny with a toothy grin he declared, "Listen up you little Pyjaks! You know what that batarian did?"

Before another argument could break out, Wrex bellowed, "He didn't let your father finish his drink in peace!" As a quiet settled over the room, the krogan chief chuckled to himself. Sure, the batarian may have actually been one of the terrorists who'd tried to drop an asteroid on Terra Nova, but if the lie bought him a few minutes peace from his kids, there was no need for them to know that.

* * *

A Safe-House Somewhere in the Terminus Systems

As the bidding between prospective anonymized buyers continued to heat up, Kasumi Goto smiled with satisfaction at the prize sitting on the mantle behind her. Sure, the real Shepard's Indra would doubtless have fetched an even higher price, but the prop they'd used filming the mini-series was still proving to be quite the attraction. Plus, she may have been a thief, but even she would've felt at least a little bit bad about breaking into the commander's house.

This, on the other hand, served the producers right. If they expected her not to steal from them, they should've at least sent a royalty check. Sure, she wasn't the easiest person to find, but a little effort would've been appreciated. Besides, if they hadn't wanted to get on her bad side, they shouldn't have cut almost all of Jacob's screen time. Was a shirtless scene or three really too much for a girl to ask for?

* * *

Sanves: Melanie Shepard and Liara T'Soni's House

"Of course," Melanie complained as she reached down to grab a slice of pizza. "Somehow I knew they'd pick this mission to spend half an episode on."

"I am not certain what the trouble is, love. I do not recall you telling me that this was one of your more problematic assignments during your time with Cerberus."

Shepard shook her head as her broadcast counterpart entered a fairly convincing replica of Donovan Hock's house. "It wasn't. It's just... never mind."

As Liara idly caressed her wife's leg, she had to admit that her curiosity was piqued, but she could be patient. Eventually, she was confident, she'd get the answer; Melanie's sarcastic rants about the mini-series had become half of the fun of watching it for both of them.

She didn't have long to wait. As the on-screen battle inside the vault began, the former Specter threw up her hands in exasperation. "God! I can't believe they've still got me wearing it. I mean, it was annoying enough breaking into Hock's office that way, but what kind of an idiot do they think I am that I'd get into a full-scale firefight in a cocktail dress?"

"I imagine the director thought that the audience would enjoy watching you, or rather her, in it."

"Yeah," Shepard sighed. "I'm sure you're right, but it's so impractical. Give me a regular uniform any day."

Liara smiled mischievously. "You did not seem to mind wearing that dress for me."

"That's because when I wore it for you, you did delicious, delicious things to me. With Kasumi, I just got shot at."

Liara nuzzled up closer to her bondmate. "You are being unfair to Kasumi, love. When you were the commander of the _Normandy_, everyone got you shot at."

"That's true," Shepard conceded before leaning over for a kiss. "But at least they didn't all make me get dressed up first."


	7. Memory, On Reflection

She'd long been familiar with the way that memories that had once been sweet could curdle, souring to the point that recalling them brought only pain. Amelia, her first girlfriend, had been pale and slim, lovely and wild. They'd been fourteen and it had only lasted a few months, but even afterwards, thinking of her had made Melanie Shepard smile. Stealing kisses in the back of classes they only intermittently attended, sneaking into abandoned buildings to fool around, those were good times in what had been a bad life. Two years later though, Amelia had overdosed and it all turned to poison, every moment with her saturated with the image of her body lying on the floor of the filthy apartment where they'd found her.

Over and over, Melanie had relearned that lesson. Ash reciting poetry to her after missions, Mordin's arguments with himself while he worked, EDI's dry banter with Joker: all the little things she'd enjoyed about the people she'd lost felt hollow after they were gone.

She'd known that the hurt of the bad times would lessen eventually. Her hungry years as a girl, the losses she'd suffered in war, she'd had a lot of practice watching them slowly lose their edge. She'd always been tough, always able to move on, but what she hadn't expected was that sometimes, things not only didn't burn as much as they used to, they could actually make her smile. She'd learned that with Liara.

For her last birthday, Shepard had given the information broker a necklace, an intricate design based on one of the Prothean memories that still rested in the back of her brain. Liara loved it, had kissed Melanie on the forehead and laughed that it was nice having the Cipher up there.

Once, Shepard had been afraid that the asari had only been interested in her because of her visions, and when she'd rejected Liara after Feros, it had been in part for that reason. Melanie had been wrong though, wrong about how the scientist felt, wrong about her own desires, and when she realized it, when she knew she loved Liara and feared she'd lost her chance, her mistake was like a knife in her gut. Even later, when they'd finally found each other, it stung every time Melanie was reminded of how she'd screwed up. The galaxy was falling apart around them, and she was ashamed that she'd thrown away so much of the time they might have had because of her insecurities and fears.

Seven years had gone by since then. The war had been won, she and Liara had built a home together, gotten married, and were expecting their first daughter, and incrementally, the memory of her mistake had changed. She'd acted, under tremendous stress, like an idiot. God knew there were worse mistakes being made back then; it's not like she'd decided to, say, disbelieve in the Reapers. With their love for each other unquestionable and a lifetime together to look forward to, a little missed time wasn't some soul-crushing shame anymore. It was instead just an endearingly foolish part of their story, like meeting your future wife after she got herself stuck in a Prothean stasis trap. So a comment that might once have made her wince instead made her chuckle, and that later night, gazing at Liara lying in bed wearing the necklace and nothing else, it was the furthest thing from her mind.

So why was she remembering it now? Probably, she reflected, it was her location. After seven years of repairs, the Citadel was finally going operational again and no place, maybe not even the _Normandy_, carried more memories, both good and bad. Shepard was speaking tomorrow at the ceremony that would officially reopen the massive space station, but she'd arrived early and spent the day alone, visiting all of the places where it had shaped her life.

It was here that she'd met many of her closest friends: Garrus, and Tali, and Wrex, all in the course of a single, crazy day, and that she'd lost some too; Kirrahe and Anderson had both fallen on the Citadel. It was the place that many of her most persistent enemies had died, where Saren and the Illusive Man had shot themselves, and that she had killed Udina and Balak. Above all, it was the place that she'd made her fateful choice and destroyed the Reapers. And it was here, right on the spot she was standing, that she'd first kissed Liara T'Soni.

She looked out over the railing at the new gardens that had been planted. They weren't as lush as they'd been, but that would just take time. God, she'd been so nervous that day. The way that Liara had stammered when Melanie had suggested they might be good together seemed so adorable now, but then, her breath had nearly stopped while she waited for the scientist's answer.

The public wasn't being allowed on the Citadel until after the ceremony, so the footsteps behind her stood out amid the silence of the Presidium. Turning, Shepard smiled to see her wife standing there in the same white and blue coat and pants she'd been wearing in Melanie's memory. Liara was only 6 months along and her pregnancy hadn't yet required new clothes; asari took 15 months to carry a child to term and the physical changes wouldn't become visible until around month 9.

"I suspected that eventually you would make your way here."

"Hey, it was our spot, Liara. You know, I had to pull some strings with the planning committee to make sure they rebuilt it the way it was."

"I appreciate that. I know how much you detest dealing with bureaucracy."

"It was worth it. Besides, I think a garden does more for the Presidium than another giant screen showing ads for 'Blasto Gets a Tentacle-Job,' or whatever else they would've put in it's place."

Liara's laugh was light and happy as she moved to put her arms around her wife.

"Nice to see you in that outfit again. Thinking of recreating our first kiss?"

"Mm, that and perhaps a bit more. After all, this time we have a great deal more privacy."

As their lips met and Melanie's hands slid over the textured fabric of her wife's jacket, she decided that that was definitely a memory worth making.


	8. Costume Choices

"Mom, mom, look at me!"

Liara turned away from the bowl she was in the process of filling with candy, coming face to face with the noisy spectacle of her older daughter running into the kitchen. Shocked by what she saw, the information broker called out in the direction of the front door.

"Shepard! What in the name of Athame is our daughter wearing?"

Melanie walked into the room. For her part, the dark-haired former Specter was wearing her N-7 hoodie, a pair of jeans, and a self-satisfied smile, no doubt amused by the small costumed asari in front of her. Meanwhile, Ashley T'Soni tilted her small head up at her mother and from beneath her mask, cheerfully informed Liara, "I'm Kai Leng."

As Liara looked at her daughter in dismay, Melanie darted in and kissed her bondmate swiftly on the lips. "I guess that answers your question. See, she's got the little plastic swords and everything."

As Ashley ran around the kitchen waving said faux weapons in the air and proclaiming that she would vanquish a variety of imaginary foes, Liara queried her wife. "Melanie, love, do you really think that's an appropriate costume for Ashley? That man killed Major Kirrahe. He nearly killed Miranda. He tried to kill both of us on a number of occasions."

"And now he's a plastic mask being worn by a five-year-old asari. What do you think he'd make of that?"

"Five and a half, Dad," Ashley insistently corrected, taking a brief pause in her epic battle.

"Right you are," Melanie replied, reaching down to pat her daughter on the head.

Her irritation fading in the face of this tag team, Liara cracked a smile and laughed softly. "I imagine that he would hate it."

Melanie chuckled along with her bondmate. "Yeah, I thought it seemed like a fitting punishment for that…" Liara could tell that her wife was about to curse, but in deference to their daughter's presence, the human instead finished the sentence with "Jerk." Shepard had been working hard to break her habit of cursing in front of Ashley and Liara showed her appreciation for the effort with an affectionate kiss on the cheek.

"I suppose I can see your point. Though I will admit that I still do not fully grasp this holiday. The appeal of dressing up as evil creatures eludes me."

"Aw, it's just for fun. I guess, maybe, it says that they're a joke, instead of something that we have to be afraid of."

"That may be, although I am still astonished at how quickly this holiday was adopted here, given that the colony is only twenty percent human."

"Hey, what can I say. I'm a trendsetter. You usually like it when I find ways to use my fame for good."

Shepard grinned and Liara rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure that this qualifies."

"Hey, kids love Halloween. Even in my old neighborhood, shi… lousy as it was, we used to trick or treat when I was little. Of course, you had to be careful to not to stop at the drug dens, but…"

Melanie's lightning reflexes kicked in just in time to catch her daughter's hand before it could get into the bowl Liara had been preparing. "What do you think you're doing there, Ashley? Daddy told you before, you have go out and get your own candy tonight. Not just take it from your Mom's bowl."

"Can we go now?'

"Soon. For now, let me show you how to use those things."

As Melanie led Ashley away from temptation and into the living room for a lesson in the finer points of plastic sword fencing, the buzzer sounded.

When Liara opened the door, she found two of her old teammates attired for the occasion. Garrus, apparently amused to discover that turians resembled the human embodiment of evil, had worn a red cape and was carrying a plastic pitchfork. Tali for her part had festooned her suit with brightly colored decorations, the significance of which was not immediately apparent to Liara but which certainly gave her a festive air.

Between the two stood their quarian daughter, Harah'Zorah. While the girl had adapted sufficiently to the atmosphere on Sanves enough not to have to wear an environmental suit, tonight she was covered up none the less, a toothy rubber mask on her face and in her hands, a little shotgun that she was pointing at the asari.

Liara laughed in spite of herself. "Not you as well. First, Shepard allows our daughter to dress up as Kai Leng, and now this? I thought the idea was to go attired as monsters. That hardly seems like a charitable way to refer to her uncle Wrex."

Behind her, Shepard was bringing Ashley to the door. As the two children immediately began engaging in an historically inaccurate but highly energetic fake battle, Melanie corrected her wife. "Not always. Sometimes kids dress up as heroes too."

"Now, now," injected Garrus. "I think Liara's original theory may have been closer the mark."

Tali gave him a playful shove. "I thought we talked about not passing on old prejudices to our children."

"Oh, this isn't about krogan-turian rivalries. You two," he teased, turning to Shepard and Liara, "May not have stayed down in the cargo hold, and you," he reminded his wife, "Have air filters built into your suit, but for those of us who had to smell him after shore leave, I think monstrous is a pretty apt description of Wrex."

"Fair enough." Tali agreed, tapping on the side of her helmet. "It's easy for me to forget the advantages of this thing sometimes."

Liara accepted that she wasn't going to get anywhere with this line of objection. "Garrus, where is Varius tonight?"

The turian shrugged. "My son has decided that he's too old for this particular activity. He's with his friends."

"Hey, be careful, Melanie warned. "Back on Earth, guys his age often throw eggs and toilet paper at houses on Halloween."

Tali shook her head. "So I discovered when researching this holiday of yours on the extranet, Shepard."

Garrus chuckled. "That's why I reminded him that his father can still pick off a trespasser at 1200 yards."

Melanie gave him a skeptical look. "1150. I'm pretty sure I was the only one who hit that last target."

Garrus gave Shepard his best aggrieved expression and Tali groaned. "You two save it for the next hunting trip."

"Sure thing," Melanie smiled. We better get going anyway. "I think the clash of the titans in there is in danger of demolishing half of our furniture."

As Shepard went inside to collect the kids so that they could start their trick-or-treating, Liara queried her. "That reminds me, love, if I'm staying home with Benezia and handing out candy, won't you need a costume?"

"Nah," Melanie grinned, giving her wife a loving kiss goodbye. "I figure I can just go as Commander Shepard."

"Why not," Liara shrugged. "I imagine that if heroes are an acceptable costuming choices, yours will be the most popular one anyway." Ever since that vid series had aired, the heroes of the Reaper War had been even more the rage than in the war's immediate aftermath. After having had to explain to Ashley why her human friend Eric had little plastic figures that looked like her Mom and Dad, Liara had accepted that their daughter's childhood was going to be a little different.

* * *

**Sorry for the long hiatus on this story; I've been working on other projects, but with ****Other Side**** now finished, I thought I'd return to this with a little seasonally appropriate fluff. Hope you enjoy it.**


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